Main menu

Pontiac G8 Coming Back to Life as a Chevy

MotorTrend.com is reporting that three GM sources have confirmed that the Pontiac G8, a rear-wheel drive sports sedan that packed a V8 engine under its hood, is being resurrected as a Chevrolet in the United States from the Holden Commodore, the Australian GM subsidiary. The new Chevy lacks a name, according to Motor Trend.

Pontiac G8 a Great Sports Sedan

The first thing to stress is don't confuse the Pontiac G8 with the Pontiac GTO that preceded it by a couple of years. The Pontiac GTO was rightly nicknamed the Goat. It was a horrible car. The Pontiac G8, last available here as a 2009 model before Pontiac's demise, was a rear-wheel drive sedan that harkened back to the glory days of the ‘60s when Detroit was pumping out classic hot rods.

According to MotorTrend.com, three GM sources have confirmed the Australian-built sedan will re-appear on the U.S. market as a Chevy in the coming year. And it won't be called Impala. "We have a good name for it," smiled one of the sources. [What do you think a good name for the Pontiac G8 would be as a Chevy? – Comment below.]

The Pontiac G8 was nicknamed the "Thunder from Down Under" and rightly so. Thunder is the right word to describe the acceleration of the G8 GT that I tested back in 2009. The exhaust positively rumbled under hard acceleration from the 6.0-liter V8 engine that produces 361 horsepower and 385 lb. ft. of torque in this almost two-ton vehicle. That’s a lot of torque and it helped the G8’s accelerate from 0-60 in 5.5 seconds.

MotorTrend.com says the new G8 will appear once a mid-cycle refresh has been accomplished on the Australian Holden Commodore.

BTW, the picture is just a bad photo representation of what a Pontiac G8 would look like with the Chevy Bowtie on the grill.